Halifax council kicks CFL franchise idea to staff

Fans cheer on the Ottawa Redblacks as they take on the Toronto Argonauts in their first ever home game during first half CFL action at TD Place in Ottawa in 2014. (Justin Tang/ CP)

The day has come.

That’s what Coun. Steve Craig (Lower Sackville) said immediately after introducing a motion Tuesday at Halifax regional council to direct the chief administrative officer and staff to pursue discussions with Maritime Football Ltd., and the province about the risks of pursuing a Canadian Football League team and stadium in the municipality.

The day Craig spoke of is the time to look into the viability of a team and stadium, not to dive into making it happen.

“I do not support HRM being a banker or a financier for this project,” Craig said. “It would be wonderful for us to have a stadium, professional sports and concerts. But most people will say that beyond the price of the ticket, I don’t want to pay for it.”

Anthony LeBlanc and his two principal partners in Maritime Football have talked extensively with council and the league. Last week, LeBlanc said the group has narrowed the search for a stadium site to two locations, likely Dartmouth Crossing and Bayers Lake business park locations.

The question of funding for the stadium, which would seat about 25,000 people and could cost in excess of $200 million to build, remains a big question if LeBlanc and his investment group are to bring CFL expansion to Halifax, potentially for the 2021 season.

“We last looked at a stadium in 2011 and it didn’t proceed far,” Craig said.

He said HRM is a world-class city but the price tag would be considerably higher than the $35 million the municipality was playing with seven years ago.

“Part of the reason the last attempt failed is that we would have been going at it alone,” Craig said. “This time, we have a group coming to us with a whole stadium district, stadium concept.

“Things have certainly changed in the last four years. It’s about time we looked at the potential here, a budget case, all the facts and figures and move forward. This is the time to do that.”

Craig said if council wanted to put a lot of money into the team and stadium concept, some other commitments would have to fall by the wayside.

“Make sure that all costs and risks are extremely upfront,” said Coun Shawn Cleary (Halifax West-Armdale).

Cleary said the net benefits to the municipality of having a professional football team and a stadium are not readily apparent.

“In the interest of transparency, I do want to see what staff comes up with but I’m very skeptical.”

Coun. Sam Austin (Dartmouth Centre) said staff have to make a deep dive into the potential capital that would have to be expended for a stadium.

“It’s nice to have,” he said. “Other things are higher on the capital priority list.”

Austin said stadiums tend to move money around the economy as opposed to being a big economic generator. He said the municipality can not be taking on a stadium full of risk.

“We put a bunch of money into it and then the CFL team leaves town. Then what?”

Coun. Tim Outhit (Bedford-Wentworth) said the original idea was that the municipality could build a modest-sized community stadium and an interested CFL franchise could upsize it to support professional football.

The municipality could provide the team with tax incentives to build a stadium, but Coun. Richard Zurawski (Timberlea-Beechville-Clayton Park) said it is all speculative right now.

“Until we have a business plan in place with dollars and cents, I don’t know what the ask will be,” said a cautiously optimistic Zurawski. “We need to get the information.

The motion eventually passed 16-0. A staff report will likely take several months to complete.